Mariners betrayed by old friend, lose to Diamondbacks 5-2

Even a Donovan Solano home run and Cal Raleigh infield hit weren’t enough today

Even if his work isn’t really my taste, it can’t be denied that singer-songwriter Donovan had a distinguished career in the 1960s. After punk came around, though, Donovan became obsolete, and the music world didn’t really have a use for him anymore. But he did have one last blast in him, reappearing in 1994 to release an album with Rick Rubin called Sutras. It didn’t do enough to make a mark, but his fans appreciated it.

It’s not unlike Donovan Solano’s time with the Mariners, where he’s landed after a distinguished career, but doesn’t really have a use anymore. Today was our Donovan’s Sutras moment, finally connecting on a pitch to do damage. You didn’t think you’d ever see him smash a ball like this again, but here it was, a little tribute for the true Donovan-heads.

But fun as that is for the Donovan fans, like Sutras, that home run wasn’t really relevant. As you can see in the score bug, it was the Mariners’ second run of the day, but that was all the team would end up getting as they were swept by the Diamondbacks on the heels of losing two of three in Anaheim.

The Mariners scored their other run in the first inning, when Jorge Polanco hit a flare into right field while batting from the right side. Given his limited ability to hit righty so far this year, it was an encouraging sign. As was his presence in the field, playing second base for the whole game, even making a pair of nice plays on back-to-back chances that kept a leadoff double from scoring in the third. The only other noteworthy performance was Julio’s three hit day, which included two doubles, one to right-center and the other into the left-field corner. Extra base hits have been rare to see from Julio lately, so for getting two in the same game, he gets today’s Sun Hat Award. Cal Raleigh was in the running for a second when he legged out an exceedingly rare-for-him infield hit, but he overplayed his hand and was thrown out trying to steal second.

Bryan Woo had a fine first five innings, never having to use more than 13 pitches to get three outs. But he got a little lucky on balls in play that were hit a bit better than usual for Woo. That trouble finally caught up with him in the sixth inning when he had to face the lineup for a third time. Corbin Carroll led off with a 111-mph hit, and Woo ended up loading the bases (though to be fair, the pitch that loaded the bases was on a 3-2 pitch that was in the zone but called a strike). Facing Eugenio Suárez, he got squeezed on another pitch that was actually in the zone to fall behind 1-0. That got him turning to his slider, which had been in unusually good form through most of the afternoon, including getting Josh Naylor with an ugly swing at strike three in the fourth. But he left this slider middle-middle, and everyone reading Lookout Landing knows not to give Geno a mistake. With one swing, Geno flipped the D-Backs’ two-run deficit into a two-run lead. A shaken Woo gave up another solo shot to Pavin Smith and was pulled after he eventually made it out of the sixth inning.

That put the score at 5-2, where it would stay through some acceptable if unspectacular outings from Brash, Speier, and Vargas, and some scuffling from the lineup. Technically it’s the Mariners who get an off day tomorrow, but I can’t help but feel it’s all of us who really need the time off.